


Skyfall

by rhimar



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Major Character Injury, spoiler: no death, this is a bit experimental for me and my writing style
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 02:11:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19758472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhimar/pseuds/rhimar
Summary: It had been a freak accident, but nonetheless Thunderbird Three was hurtling towards the Earth nothing more than a fireball with Alan inside.





	1. The Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Cross posted to thunderbirdthree.tumblr.com, my first time trying to write something angsty in this fandom, and my first time writing with so many different POV's. This is very much an experimental piece for me.

Cameras happened to be rolling, the news that an International Rescue Thunderbird was in perilous danger was global news, especially since the only rescue vehicle even capable of saving the crippled ship was the very ship tumbling through Earth’s atmosphere, nothing more than a ball of flame, and thanks to a luckily placed news ship out recording a segment about marine life, the world had an up close and personal view of her descent. **  
**

The world watched as Thunderbird Three appeared on their screens ripping through the atmosphere, nothing more than a shiny red piece of scrap metal, hurtling towards the ocean below. If there was one thing to be grateful for, was that the maximum number of lives that could be taken was one. They watched as the hunk of metal hit the ocean, making a splash that seemed to travel for miles. They watched as the ship sank below the waves, no sign of the young operative who had been on board. They watched as not a minute later Thunderbird One and the colossal Thunderbird Two arrived, not even waiting for the cargo hold to hit the water before shooting Thunderbird Four into the water. They watched with bated breath as the cameras rolled, focussing on the water under the green giant, the pieces of debris that remained gleaming red until the midday sun. They waited for any sign that whoever it was who had been flying the ship had somehow made it out alive.

—-

Alan had been on a simple mission. A cargo ship had broken down, he needed to help the crew get their systems, especially their vital life support systems back online. It had been simple, in, out, and the cargo ship was on its way home to Earth for a full system check. Alan had bid his farewells and was halfway back towards Earth himself when it had happened. It had all been so quick, two large ships had shifted slightly in their lanes, if it had been one or the other, what happened next could have been avoided. The ships bumped into each other, a mere fender bender for two ships that large, but the larger of the two tore a piece off the smaller which had gone careening outwards, Alan didn’t even have a chance to react, the piece, easily half the size of Three, smashed into the side of the ship. The impact knocked Alan out momentarily and when he came too, Three was in an uncontrolled spiral, all systems malfunctioning, with her cargo hold all but torn off. Alan had just enough composure to get his helmet on, but before he could even think about trying to control the spin, he felt his ship jerk sharply again, his head knocking on the control panel and his world went dark once more.

—-

“Thunderbird Five to Thunderbird Three. Alan what just happened? Are you ok?” John’s voice came through the comms, panicked. Scott, Virgil and Gordon looked up at each other as John’s voice came through their ears, momentarily distracted from the rescue they were wrapping up.

“ALAN!” They had never heard John sound scared before.

“John, what’s going on?” Scott asked, an edge to his voice.

“Thunderbird Three. Can you hear me? Alan, report!” The three earthbound Tracy’s shared a panicked look, and after bidding a hasty farewell to the local law enforcement they were sprinting to their ships.”

“John if you don’t tell me what’s going on, so help me I’m gonna…” Scott started before he was cut off.

“I.. I don’t know. One moment he’s fine, the next all of Three’s systems go haywire, I don’t have a visual on him, I can’t reach him on the comms.”

“We’re on our way back towards the island, keep us updated when you make contact.” Scott ordered, and with that the two ships took off.

—-

“FAB Scott.” John responded, trying to keep the shaking out of his voice. What was going on? Three had disappeared completely from his tracker, he had no idea what was happening to Alan, but he had a horrible feeling in his stomach.

“International Rescue, this is the captain of the Oliviera.” Of course! Why hadn’t John thought of asking the ship Alan had been helping if they had any idea what had happened.

“This is International Rescue, please tell me you can see Thunderbird Three.” John couldn’t keep the desperation out of his voice.

“Yes sir, that’s what I was calling about I… I’m not sure what happened exactly, but as Thunderbird Three was pulling away from our ship, something huge smashed into him. We can still see him, it looks as though he’s in some sort of uncontrolled descent back towards Earth. We can’t reach him on our comms and well….” the captain took a deep breathe “Thunderbird Three doesn’t look much like she did when she arrived here.” John’s heart dropped out of his body, tumbling to the Earth far below, but he tried to keep the panic out of his voice.

“I’ve completely lost him from my comms and I can’t track Three, you didn’t possibly get your vid cams working again?” The captain of the Oliviera quickly confirmed that the cams were indeed working, and within 15 seconds John had eyes on his brother’s ‘Bird. Or what was left of Alan’s ‘Bird.

“My god.” He gasped as he saw what looked like nothing more than a piece of space junk hurtling towards Earth, her distinctive red and the ‘THUND’ painted on her side giving away her identity.

“We’ve warned all traffic to avoid the area.” The captain said, “The GDF have been called in as well.” John couldn’t find words as he watched the scene in front of him.

There was no way Alan could survive this. No way.

He didn’t even try to contain his scream as Thunderbird Three slammed into a group of satellites, sending her spiraling even more and breaking off her nose cone.

—-

Alan’s eyes blinked open. Where was he? What was going on? Why was he so hot? He vaguely recognized his surroundings as his beloved Three. Was that fire? And why did he feel so heavy?

—-

Scott’s grip tightened around his controls as John shakily explained what had happened. He felt sick, his head reeling, but he was a rescue professional first and foremost, and as the oldest and the leader of International Rescue it was his job to make sure they did everything they could to get Alan home.

“ EOS, can you use the video to get us an approximate of where Thunderbird Three will re- enter Earth’s atmosphere.” He ordered.

“Certainly Scott Tracy. At their current rate of descent, assuming what remains of Thunderbird Three survives re- entry, she will crash in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, I’ve taken the liberty to upload to coordinates to Thunderbird One and Two’s navigation systems.” Scott and Virgil had adjusted their courses before EOS was done speaking.

“What are the chances of Three surviving re-entry?” Gordon asked in a tone that suggested he wasn’t really sure he wanted to know the answer.

“Without knowing exactly what damage was obtained I can only guess, but my closest estimate would be 32%.” EOS chirped. Scott pressed the controls a little harder. 32% was slim, but it wasn’t nothing. Virgil seemed to have the same thought asking,

“How long do we have?”

“Assuming Thunderbird Three survives re- entry she will crash into the ocean in about 7 minutes.” Scott checked his ETA. 6 minutes 50 seconds.

“Thunderbird Two, what’s your ETA?”

“7 minutes 15 seconds. Is there anything we can do to stop Three from burning up or hitting the water?” Virgil asked.

“No.” John responded over the comms. “The only one of our ships potentially capable of stopping a hunk of metal from burning through the atmosphere is Thunderbird Three, and at her current velocity, trying to slow her down when she re- enters the atmosphere would only pull a rescue ship down with her.”

Scott tried to ignore the tear that had slipped down his cheek.

“The second Three hits the water I want Four down there.” He ordered.

“FAB.” Came Gordon’s voice, “I’m ready to go.”

“John do you have any reading from Alan’s suit?” Virgil asked.

“Negative, all reading went off line the same time Three was hit.”

_5 Minutes_

“I’m reporter Joseph Embry live from the USS Calypso. Reports are coming in that Thunderbird Three has taken on heavy damage and is currently falling in an uncontrolled descent towards Earth. Spacecraft are reporting that they can see the ship falling towards this part of the Pacific Ocean.

_4 Minutes_

“Thunderbird Three has entered the upper atmosphere.” EOS reported.

_3 Minutes_

“Thunderbird Four is locked, loaded and ready to launch.” Gordon reported.

“Approaching crash site.” Virgil added.

“FAB.” Finished John.

_2 Minutes_

“Thunderbird Three has re- entered the Earth’s atmosphere without burning up.” EOS supplied.

John felt the tightening in his chest release slightly. A little bit of hope was alive.

_1 Minute_

Alan’s eyes blinked open once more. The fire was still surrounding him, he could see what looked like blood trickling down his visor. He couldn’t tell where he was, or what was happening, and if he didn’t feel so heavy, maybe he would have the strength to panic. He caught sight of something glimmering below him. Water? Was that the ocean? He didn’t have time to think, before his ship crashed into… whatever it was, and he felt himself smashed upwards, everything going black again.


	2. Ascent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's part two! Thanks for reading :)

Virgil saw the fireball crash in front of him, pressing on his control, pushing his ‘Bird to her very limits. **  
**

“Gordon I hope you’re ready.”

“FAB Virg.”

“Lowering pod, opening door in 5,4,3,2,1.”

Gordon watched the pod door open in front of him and felt his ‘Bird start to move forward. His brows furrowed in concentration as his ship slipped out from the pod, making sure the nose was pointed down so he would slip under the water, instead of hopping across it. He turned on his floodlights and pointed them at the floor.

It wasn’t hard to see Three, or really, what remained of her. There she sat nestled on the ocean floor, burnt and blackened, but he could still make out some of the distinctive red. H noted with a sigh of relief, that the piece sitting in front of him seemed to be the cockpit. He could only hope Alan had remembered his helmet, and the life support on his suit had survived the crash, and that the pressure of the G force… Gordon shook his head, he couldn’t be distracted. Yes it seemed unlikely Alan could survive this, but one way or another he was going to find his brother. He moved Thunderbird Four up towards the metal, focussing his lights towards it. Was that a flash of blue cloth he saw? Gordon put on his helmet and left Four, swimming as fast as he could towards what was in front of him. 

\----

After Virgil had dropped off Gordon, he joined Scott in hovering over the water. 

“Hey Virgil, I’m going to set One’s autopilot and come on board.” Scott said over the . radio, voice thick with emotion.

“FAB Scott.” Virgil didn’t question it. Whatever happened next, whether Gordon came up empty handed, or with Alan- alive or dead, his family needed to be together. He barely glanced up as Scott made his way into the co pilot seat next to him. They were all trying to be professional, for the sake of the mission, but sitting here, watching and waiting, with nothing to do, Virgil was barely holding it together, and he knew that he didn’t think he could make contact with Scott without bursting into tears. Instead he watched as Thunderbird One turned herself around and flew off towards home.

Then there was a crackle over the radio.

“Hey guys? I’ve found him, he’s alive, barely, but he’s alive.” The tension release was almost audible. Barely alive wasn’t good, but barely alive was workable.

“We’re back in Thunderbird Four, Virg you better be ready for a pickup.”

“FAB Thunderbird Four.” Virgil was already adjusted the massive ship over the pod.

“I’ve alerted the nearest hospital that we’re on our way. Kayo and Grandma are flying over in Thunderbird Shadow.” John’s professionalism had returned in full force. Scott and Virgil watched the yellow Sub reappear and redock with Thunderbird Two.Scott leapt up from his seat, racing down to meet Gordon and Alan, Virgil joining him as soon as Two’s Autopilot was set to the coordinates EOS had uploaded to the navigational computer, and he had put the throttle on full blast. He found his brother’s still in the cargo bay. Gordon gave him a look as he approached.

“We figured we would be better off not moving him as much as we could. I’m not sure our med bay could really help him.” Virgil walked over and took a look at Alan. It took everything in him not to fall to the floor crying. Alan looked so small, his limbs where all weirdly bent, as though his bones were shattered. There was a huge gash on his forehead that someone had slapped a piece of gauze over to stop the blood from dripping down Alan’s face. It was going to need stitches but they were close enough to the hospital that Virgil decided to leave it to them. His hands were shaking too much to be of any use. An Oxygen mask was strapped over Alan’s face, and he was hooked up to a heart monitor. Virgil looked at the numbers. Alan’s blood oxygen was low and his heartbeat was slow, but he was breathing and his heart was beating. ut what scared Virgil most was the chunk of red metal sticking out of his brother’s uniform, blood all around it. Virgil reached over to brush some of Alan’s hair out of his face.

“Oh Allie…”

\----

Shawna Morris had been on her break when Murray, a fellow nurse had come rushing into the break room yelling at them to turn on the TV. She and her fellow nurses had watched at Thunderbird Three tumbled out of the sky. She had watched as Thunderbird Four had dived after it, and she barely breathed as she watched the lack of movement on the screen. At one point she saw someone leave Thunderbird One and enter Thunderbird Two, before One turned around and sped off. And not 5 minutes later, she watched as Thunderbird Four reappeared and was lifted back into Thunderbird Two, with no indication of what had happened down below. She felt sick, to see a Thunderbird, one of the strong, dependable Thunderbirds crash down to Earth like that was so jarring. Her thoughts where distracted when Dr. Michaels crashed into the room.

“The IR operative is alive but in critical condition. We’re the closest major hospital to the crash site, Thunderbird two will be landing within the next 5 minutes. We need every available hand. Bring up all bags of A- blood we can find. We’re prepping Theater One for immediate emergency surgery. ” With that he sprinted out of the room. Shawna didn’t have time to think, just to spring into action. She raced down to the blood storage, where the techs where frantically attaching blood to IV lines. She, Murray and another nurse grabbed each ready pole and sprinted back to the elevators. When the door opened, Dr Michaels was bag, he nodded, 

“One of you follow me, we need to meet Thunderbird Two.” The group traveled to the ground floor and as the closest to the door, Shawna found herself following Dr Michaels into the parking lot. There was a whole team of people waiting to meet the ship. Specialists and nurses from every department. 

“Here they come!” Someone called out. Shawna looked up to see a speck in the sky that get getting bigger and bigger. Thunderbird Two landed in the parking lot, a door on the side opened and everyone leapt into action. Shawna only got close enough for a second to hook up the first blood transfusion, and only one thought made it through her mind.

“Oh my god, he’s a kid.”

\----

Scott watched as the medical staff rushed Alan onto a gurney and into the hospital. He nodded at Virgil, a sign for the middle brother to go with them and see what was happening. Gordon made to follow, but Scott placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder,

“No, give them space to work.” With Alan in the hands of the doctors and nurses, Scott felt some of the adrenaline begin to wear off. His knees felt weak, like he might topple over any second. Gordon seemed to notice,

“C’mon Scott let’s get inside.” Wrapping an arm around him, Gordon led Scott into the building and into a chair. Scott tried to ignore, how everyone else in the waiting room seemed to be staring at them. He put his head in his hands, taking deep breaths as Gordon rubbed his back. This was backwards. Gordon had been the one who had actually had to save Alan, Scott just had to sit and wait, Gordon was the one he should be comforting. He managed to calm down enough to sit up.

“Are you ok Gordy?” He asked. Gordon shrugged,

“Are any of us?”

“Excuse me, sir.” A young receptionist walked over. “I was told to bring these to you?”. Scott took the offered clipboard with a small smile of thanks, and the receptionist left him to it. Looking down he noticed that it was paperwork with the title Hospital Admission of a Minor Under 18. With small bold lettering telling him that a parent or legal guardian needed to be the one filling it out. Legal Guardian, well, that was him. 

“He’s a kid, Gordon. He doesn’t deserve this, we let him in too young.” 

“Don’t blame yourself Scott, this is a freak accident, it could have happened to any of us. Besides you know we needed the extra person. Was it ideal, no. But it was what we had to do at the time. No one is at fault here.” Scott nodded, he still felt guilty, but that wasn’t a fair burden to lay on Gordon.

\----

Shawna left the operating theatre to find the Thunderbird who had accompanied the kid up here. He was sitting outside the theatre, tearing a tissue into little pieces. He looked up as Shawna apprached, she put on what she hoped was a sympathetic smile. 

“Mr….” She started, before realizing she had no idea what this man’s name was. He was an international hero, had saved her own uncle a couple years previously, but he was anonymous to her.

“Call me Virgil.” He said offering a small, sad smile. “How is he.”

“Their finishing up now, I was sent to tell you that he’s in critical, but stable condition. They’ll be bringing him into ICU room three in about 20 minutes if you want to find the rest of your people and meet him there.” Shawna didn’t know for sure, but judging by the fact Thunderbird Two didn't move, Thunderbird One was now visible in the parking lot and a smaller third vehicle had shown up, she could only guess that no one had left. Virgil climbed to his feet.

“Thank you.” He told her, she nodded at him as he walked off, watching as he turned the corner. 

\----

Virgil made his way down to the waiting room, where he wasn’t surprised to see that Grandma, Kayo, Brains and John had arrived. What he was surprised to see was the way they were all crowded around Scott whose shoulders were shaking harshly. 

“Hey what's going on?” Virgil asked approaching the group. Gordon looked up, 

“Did you know the International News Network managed to catch the whole thing on video? Because we sure didn’t. We were sitting here, waiting, when it started replaying on the news, Scott lost it. Won’t respond to us, not even when John told him he had to fly over in One.” Virgil looked up at the now blank TV screens, and how everyone else in the waiting room had moved away, giving his family space. Virgil pushed through the huddle around his brother, kneeling in front of Scott.

“Scott, hey look at me.” Scott didn’t respond, his shoulders shaking as he cried violently into his hands. Virgil used his hand to push his brother’s chin up so Scott could make eye contact with him. Red rimmed blue eyes met brown.

“He’s ok Scott, he’s coming out of surgery right now. He’s critical, but stable, and we can all go upstairs and see him ok.” Scott nodded, taking a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

“Ok, good, just breathe.” Virgil slipped into rescue mode, calming his brother. He wrapped one of Scott’s arms around his back, John hurried over to support the other side. Virgil tried to ignore the stares from everyone else in the room as his family made their way slowly up to the ICU.

\----

Alan felt like he was in a fog under miles of water. Floating for a long time, nothing to see, nothing to hear, just dark and silence. He wasn’t panicking, he didn’t feel trapped, just calm, like nothing could hurt him. Something changed suddenly. It wasn’t as quiet, he could hear what sounded like a faint beeping from above him. Looking up, there was a light shining into the water. His curiosity got the better of him and he began swimming up towards the surface. As he approached the beeping got louder, and where those voices he could here? As he reached the surface and was about to break through, he heard three clear words.  
“He’s waking up.” 

The light was blinding as Alan cracked his eyes open. He immediately closed them against the harshness before giving it another try. He slowly blinked them open, letting his eyes adjust to the light and the two figures looking down on him. The faces began to be clear and Alan recognized Scott and Virgil looking down on him. They looked awful, was his first thought. Scott obviously hadn’t shaved in a few days, and his hair looked grayer than Alan remembered. Deep, dark circles lined his eyes, but they still glistened with happiness as he smiled down at Alan. Virgil didn’t look a whole lot better, but he at least looked vaguely like he’d seen a shower within the last few days. 

“Hey kiddo, welcome back.” Scott said softly, cupping Alan’s cheek with his hand. 

“What happened?” Alan managed to get out, voice throat sore and scratchy. Scott and Virgil looked at each other, seemingly having a private conversation. Virgil smiled at Alan and slipped out of the curtain. Scott took a seat on the edge of the bed.

“You crashed. As far as well can tell, you were hit by some sort of debris. It was enough to rip into three and send you on an uncontrolled spiral into Earth, hitting everything in your path. You crashed into the ocean.” Alan took the information in for a second. Virgil returned, holding a cup of ice. He spooned some into Alan’s mouth. Alan let it melt, the cool water soothing his throat.

“Did anyone else get hurt? How long have I been here?”

“No one else got hurt, Allie. It’s been about a month. They kept you in a medically induced coma to give the worst of your injuries a chance to heal, they started trying to wake you up last night.” Virgil supplied. 

“A… month?” Alan’s brain struggled to comprehend what was going on. Virgil chuckled,

“Yeah, you were injured pretty badly. The fact you even survived the crash was a miracle.” He paused, “Dr. Michaels will be in in a little while. They were very cautious about waking you up, but most of your severe injuries are healing nicely.”

“What happened to Three?” Scott and Virgil looked at each other. They had feared Three becoming a target for souvenir hunters, thanks to the news broadcasting her exact location, so when Alan had been in less critical conditions, John, Gordon and Vigil had taken Two out to salvage the wreckage from the bottom of the ocean. 

“Oh Allie.” Scott sighed. “The only piece of her to even make it back was the cockpit. I’m sorry.” Alan gulped trying to hold back the tears he felt in his eyes at that news. He felt Virgil pull him into a gentle hug.

“Try not to think of it, you’re alive. We can build another Three, we can’t build another you.” Alan nodded, trying to put on a brave face. Virgil stood back up. 

“I’m going to call home, I’m sure everyone else will want to fly out immediately.” He turned to Scott,

“See I told you he would wake up and be ok, now will you please take a shower lasting longer than 15 seconds.” Scott glared at Virgil, his eyes softening when Alan chuckled.

“It’s good to have you back kid.” Virgil said, as he left the room, to place his call.

_6 months later_

Alan gazed up at the new Thunderbird Three gleaming in front of him. He had been home for five and a half months now, his injuries were all but healed, and he could be cleared to return to flight as early as his next physical. He jumped as he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder. He looked up at Scott.

“What do you think?” His big brother asked.

“She’s beautiful.” Scott nodded,

“Brains does good work. John took her up for a test flight last night, said she’s as smooth as ever. Reinforced steel, the cockpit is now also a self- enclosed escape pod. I think Brains even said something about a new coffee machine.” Alan smiled at his brother,

“Sound’s great Scott.” He bit his lip.

“Hey, Alan look at me.” Alan turned to his brother. “You don’t have to go up, not now, not ever if you’re not ready.” Scott had concern in his eyes. Alan nodded.

“I’ll be ready Scott. It was a freak accident, it could have happened to any of us.” Alan took a deep breathe. Was he ready? He missed flying, he missed looking down on Earth from above, he missed helping people. He hadn’t realized just how many people he had rescued until his hospital room had been filled to the brim with flowers and cards from people all over the planet. People deserved to be rescued, as Virgil had once said, people deserve to know that if they called for help, someone was listening. Taking one last look up at his beautiful new ship Alan squared his shoulders and this time the confidence came easily,

“Yeah, I’ll be ready.”


End file.
